Why we love creative play with magnets and the Smartmax Playground XL

Play time in our house is a time I like us all to be able to enjoy together, spending time together as a family is important and having the opportunity to see Taylor’s mind at work is always fascinating. At 22 months old he already has impressive hand-eye coordination, he may not be able to catch a ball but he certainly has the ability to build a masterpiece with construction toys.

A current favourite of ours is Smartmax. A range of magnetic building toys catering for ages 1-6.

SmartMax is the perfect present for toddlers, and I usually struggle for gift ideas! An award-winning magnetic construction system which allows children of all ages the chance to be creative, to learn and to explore the fascinating world of magnetism and most importantly, to have fun.

Smartmax can improve hand-eye coordination, teach logical thinking, colour recognition, form recognition in 2D & 3D, counting, sharing, and creativity. That’s a LOT for one toy.

We’ve been playing with the Smartmax playground xl this month and found we all enjoy it. Taylor likes being able to build constructions with ease, whilst mummy and daddy like to see what masterpieces we can create too, which Taylor knocks down, of course. It can get quite competitive too!

I find the best way to encourage Taylor to engage and play is to concentrate on the one toy. So when I bring out the smartmax we’ll tidy away his other toys as he can become distracted easily. It’s the sort of toy that’s perfect on a Sunday evening during that hour between dinner and bath time. A quiet hour to sit and play together.

Each piece in the smartmax set is sturdy and chunky in size. Meaning I can pop out of the room during play without worrying that anything could be harmful or potentially swallowed. This is a big deal as most parents will agree, some toys you just can’t leave them alone with, especially at the age where everything goes into their mouth. All parts are bigger than 3cm and thereby don’t fit a child’s throat.

The Playground XL set comes in a cardboard box, which Taylor decided to climb inside. As I love organisation I’d much prefer a container you can store them in, but that’s just me. Some of the larger sets do have this benefit which is great.

Their is also a great educational side to Smartmax – Magnets have a magnetic north and south pole. The cold colours in Smartmax, green, blue, purple and white have their north poles directed outwards. The warm colours, red, orange, yellow and pink have their south poles directed outwards.

All bars with a cold colour can be connected to all bars with a warm colour. All other combinations repel. A fun way to teach children about magnets!

Taylor has loved constructing with Smartmax and was in awe when he first saw the pieces come together. Something as simple as magnet is fascinating the first time you see it and they’ve been a huge hit with him. He doesn’t understand why some pieces will and won’t connect but that’s something we can teach him with them as he gets older.

The Smartmax XL set is a 46 piece set and contains 13 metal balls, 15 short magnetic poles, 4 long magnetic poles, 6 panels, 4 curved tubes and 2 straight tubes.

Retailing at £44.99 Smartmax has become a firm favourite in our house. From building towers to ball runs, cameras, microphones and houses the only real limit is your imagination.

As an introduction to Smartmax this set has been perfect. I have a feeling we might be asking Santa Clause for more so we can go bigger with our creations!